IDRC May Agriculture Trends Newsletter

"Agriculture is the greatest and fundamentally the most important of all our industries. Without it we cannot survive."

Check out these current headlines in US Agriculture

from across the country.

The Wall Street Journal: Inside the Struggle to Make Lab-Grown Meat

Link - While Upside Foods and others have long been able to grow small amounts of meat from cells, making larger volumes at low cost is proving much harder.

KJZZ: Water permits for Saudi Arabia-owned farm in Arizona revoked

Link - The state of Arizona has rescinded drilling permits for two water wells for a Saudi Arabia-owned alfalfa farm in the western portion of the state after authorities said they discovered inconsistencies in the company's well applications.

Napa Valley Register: Farmworkers allege unsafe conditions at one of county's largest vineyard management companies

Link - More than 100 farmworkers and supporters picketed at Vino Farms in Healdsburg Friday, calling attention to what they described as inhospitable, sometimes dangerous working conditions at one of the largest vineyard management companies in Sonoma County.

Gizmodo: This Year’s Winter Storms Devastated Agricultural Workers

Link - The weeks of severe weather also turned fields into a muddy mess and disrupted work for the state's many agricultural workers.

Farm and Dairy: Bird flu outbreak enters second year in Pennsylvania

Link - Since the first positive case of HPAI in Pennsylvania, more than 4.6 million birds have been killed as a result of the bird flu.

RFD-TV: Farm groups want Congress to reverse increasing H-2A labor costs

Link - Groups like the Ag Workforce Coalition want lawmakers to support resolutions to the Congressional Review Act, which would disapprove of the methods used to calculate the adverse effect wage rate.

ABC News: Why parts of America are 'certainly in a water crisis' and what can be done about it

Link - As pollution, engineering, population growth and climate change pose challenges to freshwater quality and quantity in America, the safety and amount of water in parts of the U.S. is in question.

USA Today: 18,000 cows killed in explosion, fire at Texas dairy farm may be largest cattle killing ever

Link - After subduing the fire at the west Texas dairy farm Monday evening, officials were stunned at the scale of livestock death left behind: 18,000 head of cattle perished in the fire at the South Fork Dairy farm near Dimmitt, Texas – or about 20% of the cattle slaughtered in America on any given day.

Iowa Capital Dispatch: Iowa ag groups seek more robust vaccine support in farm bill

Link - Amid ongoing worries about avian influenza that has led to the culling of more than 13 million chickens and turkeys in Iowa in the past year, a priority among agricultural groups for the next federal farm bill is vaccine funding.

Just Food: US food inflation extends pullback but cost to eat out edges up

Link - Overall food costs remain 8.5% higher than a year ago but almost three percentage points off August’s peak.

CBS News: Food prices are rising at the highest rate in decades. Here's where that money goes.

Link - Even as U.S. inflation moderates, for millions of Americans every trip to the grocery store is a pain in the pocketbook. Supermarket prices have shot up at the fastest rate in decades, putting staples like eggs and bread out of reach for some.

The Wall Street Journal: Food Prices Are New Inflation Threat for Governments and Central Banks

Link - With food commodity prices down, widening profit margins might explain why consumers are paying more.

ABC7 News: Half Moon Bay shooting exposes hidden housing crisis that threatens future of farming

Link - The mass shooting in Half Moon Bay exposed the deplorable living conditions that some farmworkers endured. Now, officials are looking for a solution.

Boise Dev: Idaho lawmakers, agricultural industry leaders say there's more work to be done on immigration, farm workforce reform

Link - The theme of the American Business Immigration Coalition roundtable, held Tuesday in Boise, was there’s more work to be done and the stakeholders involved will continue to prioritize the issue.

Bloomberg Law News: Guest Farmworkers' Class Action Alleges Trafficking, Wage Theft

Link - A Georgia farm and labor contractors are accused of misrepresenting employment conditions, underpaying workers, and charging illegal fees in a class action lawsuit filed by several Mexican guestworkers.

Oregon Public Broadcasting: The robots are coming … to pick Northwest apples

Link - Feeling pressure from labor shortages, some farmers are betting on robots to be the fruit pickers of the future.